TripOutside.com May Help You Reduce Your Environmental Impact

Have you heard about the rental revolution? A significant segment of the population, from younger consumers to more affluent older consumers are choosing to own less and experience more. Consider this:

• Almost half of Millennials would rather rent than own
• Three out of four Millennials would rather spend money on experiences than things
• Affluent Baby Boomers are downsizing and looking to rent more and own less
• The rental sector is growing faster than the rest of the economy
• Companies like Rent the Runway, Zipcar, and Netflix are toppling the ownership model

There are many compelling reasons to rent outdoor gear versus own. Owning gear like bikes, boards, and boats takes up valuable space, and many people are looking to downsize homes. Manufacturers are coming out with great new upgrades on equipment, and last year’s gear seems to be outdated before the next season even hits. This is also evident in prices—the average mountain bike costs over $3,800 now.

Maybe the biggest reason of all to rent is the environmental toll of buying new equipment. Take your typical mountain bike. Raw materials are extracted from the earth. Hauling raw materials to processing plants on other continents emits carbon. High-energy, polluting foundries, refineries, and chemical factories turn raw materials into metal, plastic, and carbon for bike parts. Fleets of container ships on a constant circuit of the planet drop off raw materials, bikes, and bike parts in distant countries, and ultimately bring containers of bicycles to Europe and North America, with no sustainable end-of-life plan for these products. All of this boils down to a very big reason to rent your gear.

Storing a bike or two (or five!) in your garage along with the kayak you bought a few years back, the snowshoes you used once, and the SUP you grabbed on sale, can add up to a lot of lightly used gear collecting dust. That gear took a significant amount of resources to manufacture. Renting your gear for your next outdoor adventure is much more environmentally friendly. Instead of 25 people buying 25 kayaks and using them a few times, it’s much more sustainable for those 25 people to borrow one kayak.

TripOutside.com was launched to get more people outdoors, treading softly on our planet through “silent sports” rentals. TripOutside.com allows outdoor enthusiasts to rent gear and book outdoor adventures easily online from the best local shops. The site offers rentals of bikes, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, canoes, skis, snowboards, rafts, surfboards, camping gear, and more in over 60 destinations, (and growing!). Not only can you rent the latest and greatest bike, kayak, or skis for your next adventure, you can do it at a fraction of the cost of buying and without the guilt over dust bunnies!

With 90% of travel bookings involving online searches, TripOutside.com lets customers book gear and adventures whenever and from wherever they want, all on one website. Additionally, TripOutside.com is the only site where outdoor enthusiasts can compare shop rental prices before they book, as well as see shop locations and brands. Prices between shops can vary by as much as 50%, so this helpful tool can help save outdoor enthusiasts a ton of money. 

Mountain biking the Moab red rock, backcountry canoeing the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, and surfing Oahu’s famous waves are just a few of the adventures you can rent gear for on TripOutside.com. 

Visit TripOutside.com for a full list of their offerings, or get inspiration for your next adventure trip from our Instagram account.